Most of the boys that Ness Mobley coaches for the Salt Lake Shock competitive basketball club live and go to school in West Valley City.

But Utah’s second-largest city doesn’t have many places for them to play games and tournaments. There’s hardly anywhere for Mobley’s players to put their physical and leadership skills to the test. Instead, they have to travel to Farmington and Sandy often.

“Some players [and] parents aren’t able to make it to the games because of rides,” Mobley said, “whether that’s because of gas [or] coordinating time with work and the commute.”

A proposal in front of the West Valley City Council might make life a little easier for the Shock. Earlier this month, council members discussed placing a massive new indoor athletic complex capable of hosting practices, games and tournaments on a set of empty, city-owned parcels. Ideally, the facility would be able to host weekend tournaments for sports like basketball, volleyball and wrestling, but be open for local play on weekdays.

Harold Moleni, a community relations administrator for the city, pitched the council on the idea.

“I actually tried to start our own little competitive basketball team here in the city, which was great while it lasted. However, we got shut down because Granger High School could no longer host us,” Moleni told council members. “So, we didn’t have a space to practice or play. We traveled to basketball tournaments all over the state, throughout the nation, all the while wishing there was something closer to home.”

He said that his son now plays for a club based in Farmington, 30 minutes away.

To be clear, there is no official project proposal in front of the council. Moleni’s goal was to provide council members with an idea for the open space squeezed between the Jordan River, the Utah Cultural Celebration Center and 3300 South. The council made no final decision on the idea.

West Valley City officials have long sought to fill in the key area. In 2024, the city put out a request for bids to developers in hopes of putting the parcels to use, but the land has remained bare. The properties are split down the middle by a Rocky Mountain Power corridor, complicating matters.

Moleni and Clay Partain from Sports Salt Lake, the sports tourism arm of Visit Salt Lake, told council members that the facility would need to be between 100,000 and 140,000 square feet — about the size of a Target store — in order to attract regional and national sports tournaments. That would be about 12 to 15 basketball courts alongside other necessities like restrooms.

Besides creating more space for the city’s youth athletes, Partain argued that the facility could bring an economic boost. Sharing stats from similar centers in Farmington; Frisco, Texas; and Anaheim, California, Partain said the complexes, on average, generate about $20 million per year in economic impact. He recommended it be developed and operated alongside a private company.

“I can’t think of anything that would be a better showpiece, a better welcome to the city,” District 4 council member Cindy Wood, who represents the southwest part of the city, said. “And I know the travel is ridiculous for Utah athletes and if we could just add another venue, another opportunity for athletes here, I think it’d be great.”

Most other council members were excited about the idea, too. They had questions, though, about what other sports could use the space, how revenues would be split with a private operator and how the power lines might affect development.

Mobley, the Shock coach, is also enthusiastic.

“Having a large indoor sports facility within West Valley City would be amazing,” he said. “[It] would make it a lot easier and more convenient for the players … to make the games and also having their parents’ support, physically, at the games.”

Moleni, the city official, said he could begin meeting with potential business partners about the idea.